Rabbi Jamie’s Corner
August 2026
We’re happy to share these thoughts on current events or Jewish themes from Rabbi Jamie Hyams (our Development Director). Feel free to reach out to Jamie directly at jamie@hflasf.org if you would like to talk about any of the ideas discussed here.
Last year I had one of those milestone birthdays that made me stop and ask two questions: What in my life needs to change? And what in me needs to change? It’s like revisiting the strategic plan of one’s life and asking, “Am I on track, and if not, what am I going to do about it?” Sometimes we recognize that we need to rearrange the external conditions of our lives to accommodate changing situations, and sometimes we recognize that we need to work on ourselves.
At Hebrew Free Loan, we help people adjust the pieces of their lives by offering interest-free loans in areas like education, housing, debt, fertility, business, and more. When someone meets with our loan officers, they often receive guidance that goes beyond their initial financial request. Our loan officers spend a great deal of time listening and working to understand the full picture of people’s lives.
Why do we do that instead of simply writing a check? Why do we care about budgeting and planning for what comes next? Why do we take the time to suggest to someone that paying down their credit card debt might help them achieve their long-term goals more than something else they thought they needed to borrow money for? Our loan officers listen carefully and offer practical guidance because we aim to do more than just solve today’s financial crisis. We want to help people build a healthier future.
As a loan recipient myself, I received guidance that helped my family in ways I never would have anticipated. Jewish tradition does something similar. Just as Hebrew Free Loan helps people change themselves and their lives, Jewish tradition teaches that we have both the capacity and the responsibility to transform ourselves. That conviction has shaped Jewish life for generations, and it continues to influence the way we approach our work at Hebrew Free Loan today.
One of the richest expressions of that teaching is the practice of Mussar. As Rabbi Greg Marcus writes, “Mussar is a practice that gives concrete instructions and guidelines to help you live a meaningful and ethical life.” The Hebrew word mussar is often translated as “correction” and, in modern Hebrew, also means ethics. The practice of Mussar focuses on cultivating different soul traits through small, daily steps. Soul traits include things like humility, loving-kindness, enthusiasm, equanimity, and order.
Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, one of the great twentieth-century Mussar masters, taught that spirituality means building one’s interior world. Mussar, he said, is the process by which we build it. Jewish tradition doesn’t imagine spirituality as something separate from everyday life. We don’t wake up, decide to be spiritual, and then book a retreat to a mountaintop for contemplation. Jewish spirituality asks us to do the inner work that helps us become more compassionate, more disciplined, and more present in the real world. We are not expected to become great overnight, and we only strive to become a little better than we were the day before. Financial stability and personal growth have this in common: they are rarely achieved all at once. Both are built through small, thoughtful steps taken steadily over time.
As I write this, we are one month out from the High Holy Days. This period in the Jewish calendar ritualizes the cyclical nature of life, beginning with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and ending ten days later with Yom Kippur, when we reckon for the misdeeds of the past year. The rhythm of the Jewish year reminds us that, once again, if we are fortunate, we will complete another year and begin a new cycle.
As we begin turning our thoughts toward the High Holy Days, many of us think about the changes we hope to make in the year ahead. We won’t become more patient, more humble, or more compassionate overnight. Lasting change comes through small, consistent acts repeated over time.
Mussar reminds us that becoming the person we hope to be is itself a lifelong practice. I am grateful that Judaism gives us not only the vision of who we can become, but also a practical path for getting there.
~Rabbi Jamie
